EVOLVING DEPICTION OF THE NEANDERTAL
... The portrayal of the Neandertal as a primitive brutish creature has become a popular, commonly accepted model. ... The modern picture paints the Neandertal in a more sympathetic light, as a relatively intelligent creature: using tools, exhibiting compassion and with physical features well adapted to the environmental conditions prevalent at the time. What then is the commonly accepted, albeit possibly incorrect picture of the Neandertal? ... The Neandertal would have moved in an ungraceful, shambling fashion, and would have only the most primitive abilities regarding the use of tools. ... The common conception of the Neandertal has him as inarticulate and devoid of language, capable of only the most basic of animal-like grunts. There have also been accusations of cannibalism leveled at the Neandertal. The initial depiction of the Neandertal as a primitive brute, was made popular by the academic Marcellin Boule. Boule created this empirically based Neandertal picture from the first complete Neandertal skeleton ever discovered, found at the French site of Chapelle-aux-Saints, unearthed in 1908. ... The tools were of the Neandertal form now classified as Mousterian. These signs of intentional burial were ignored by Boule in his depiction of the Neandertal as a primitive brute. The first reconstructive drawing was created under Boule’s guidance, depicting the Neandertal as brutish, shaggy and extremely primitive, with virtually no culture. ... As a result of this omission, Neandertals were depicted en-masse on the basis of a single arthritic individual, and this depiction was to be maintained for decades. The skeleton used for the depiction by Boule was that of an old male. ... Boule must have recognised the signs of disease in the individual, but had omitted to remove these aspects in his portrayal of the typical Neandertal. ... This would give the Neandertal a shuffling ape-like gait. ... Boule noted one of the studies showing this, but then still proceeded to portray the Neandertal in the ape-like stance. ... The ‘classic’ Neandertal form has a large face; a long, low skull with projecting occipitals and low brow ridges, long bones with wide joint surfaces; and large hands. ... There have been some attempts to explain the ‘classic’ skull shape of the Neandertal as an adaptation to the climate in Western Europe at this time. An American Anthropologist, (Carleton Coon, 1962) proposed what has been termed the ‘radiator theory of Neandertal Noses’. At the time of the classic Neandertals in Western Europe, Europe was growing progressively colder, and Coon proposed that the shape of the large Neandertal face and in particular the large nose, was an evolutionary adaptation in order to allow warming of the frigid air, preventing it refrigerating the brain stem. This was a major first step to explain Neandertal morphology. ... Other aspects of Neandertal morphology take on a much more less primitive aspects when considered in the light of the prevailing climate. The skeletal structure of the Neandertal, when interpreted in a less prejudiced way than Boule, may be viewed in a more rational way. ... The Neandertal morphology is therefore a sensible adaptation to the cold climate of Europe at the time: their bulky trunks and relatively short limbs are designed for conserving metabolic heat in near-arctic conditions.